Please allow me to introduce myself…
I am originally from Georgia (the country), where folk songs are imbedded in our national consciousness. For me, the desire to sing is as natural as breathing air.
But it was the primal strains of rock ’n’ roll that I heard on records smuggled into the USSR that set my pulse racing, my heart pounding, and my head spinning. At 16 years old, I put together my first band, Salamandra, and as soon as travel restrictions were eased after the dissolution of the USSR, we flew to the USA.
Living in the USA was no bed of roses. In between occasional gigs, we dug the red clay of the State of Georgia for a living. Despite our struggles to survive, we matured as rock ‘n’ rollers in the USA, and I cherish every moment of the time that we spent there - yes, even the time when we blew our Atlantic records showcase (take me out for a whisky one night, and I might tell you about it).
Salamandra split in 1996. The rest of the band returned to Georgia, and I returned to Moscow. Back then, Russia was a hotbed of crime, but through, shall we say, a ‘business’ contact, I was offered a gig. The music scene was booming at the time, and shortly after, I put together a new band, Blast.
Blast enjoyed many years of success in Russia, and we played with a number of well-known artists through the years, including Blur, The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand. We played festivals across Europe, the UK, and even South Africa, and we gained airplay across a variety of radio stations, including the BBC. Despite this, something was missing for me.
After the break-up of Blast, I went solo in 2014. This journey brought me into the orbit of a new set of creative collaborators, from Ian McNabb to Tim Palmer. And it was on the course of this journey, that I recognised what was missing. The authenticity that I had found in the company of my original bandmates, along with the hunger and creativity that we forged in our 6 years together in the USA.
And so over time, contacts re-established, it came to pass that we reconvened. In Georgia. The land from which our hearts and souls flow. The land from which music is born in the air. Taking inspiration from the rugged, mountainous region we were in, we brought this album “& Yet” to life.
For me, this recording is the first time that I turned off all my internal blocks and barriers. Everything on this album is from the heart and soul. There are no filters.
This is me. Nash Albert.
Album Credits
Produced by Ilya Mazaev, Tim Palmer and Nash Albert.
Recorded at SVAS Studios, Saguramo, Georgia (engineer Ilya Mazaev), except track 1: recorded at Bravo Studios, Tbilisi, Georgia (engineers Alekø Berdzenishvili and Ilya Mazaev).
Additional production at Igor Matvienko Studios, Moscow.
Band members:
Nash Albert – lead vocals, guitars, grand piano, synths, effects
Irakli Sanaia – guitars, piano, rhodes, keys, backing vocals
Mindo Gabashvili – drums & percussion
Gia Tavkhelidze – bass and backing vocals
Additional musicians:
Nikolay Devlet-Kildeev – guitars
Sergey Vinogradov – guitars
Tim Palmer – guitars, synths and backing vocals
Alexander Bruni – flute
Ilya Mazaev – keyboards and backing vocals
Elene Jgushia – backing vocals
Liza Beridze – backing vocals
Mixed by Tim Palmer at ’62 Studios, Austin, TX.
Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering Studios, Portland, Maine.
Original artwork by: Gio Berro
except: "Love to Reset" by Nash Albert
"I Won't Look Back" by Aleko Tavkhelidze
Recorded at SVAS Studio, Saguramo, Georgia